Hi guys, new to the forums, but I've been pulling from several articles as I beat on my 06 SS 2.4. I'm not looking for help, but I thought I would pass along the question

How often do you change your clutch, and what kind of driving do you do with it?

I personally like my 2.4 as vanilla as it is - it pulls much better than a lot of the stuff in my area. I do mostly highway/commute driving with some aggressive tendencies on the road. I'm in the middle of pulling my transmission to change the clutch (and man is it burnt) and thought - "how often does one do this?". Currently I'm about 285000 KM (or 177000 freedom units) and it's definitely the second clutch to go into the car, nothing has been changed out from what I can see.

For the record - I'm taking time to do things a little better than OEM since everything's a little tired under there - new bushings all around, new ball joints (moog), new spindles (mevotech), new tie rod ends (mevotech), new strut bellows and a refresh on the springs, exedy stage 1 clutch and luk flywheel, new master cylinder, slave/throwout (exedy kit), brakes, caliper service. Subframe and some areas have mild rust spots so I'm treating those as I go with a primer epoxy that soaks in and converts the rust before painting with caliper paint. All stretch bolts (hub nuts, maybe flywheel bolts?) are obviously replaced with GM OEM or ARP if they've got 'em. I don't race, but I look to put better crap into my car if I'm replacing it if I can/cost allows.

 

Did you put the second clutch in? A stock 2.4L driven mostly highway getting to those miles on the original isn't unheard of. Minimal wear occurs when driving at highway speeds (not enough torque to slip the clutch) so you can really extend the miles. I put 120k freedom units on a GMPP clutch with a higher than stock LNF driving spirited and stop and go traffic and some track days (drag racing, clutch def lost some material during me learning to launch). When I had the motor out for a turbo replacement and other suspension R&R I did the clutch also and there was certianly more life left but a few hot spots on the flywheel.

And yes the flywheel bolts are TTY (torque to yield or stretch bolts), I would also suggest getting the sway bar bushings replaced while you have the subframe out way easier than in the car.

 

Yeah, I'm putting in the second clutch now. Everything's disconnected, subframe is out, I just got hung up on the forward dowel yesterday and decided to give it a rest before I broke something. The case is separated from the engine side, I just need to support it and slide it out, which is hard on gravel. Interesting side note, when supporting stuff on axel stands in gravel, remember that as the car shifts, it WILL dig those into the ground.

I'll order new stabilizer bar bushings and flywheel bolts from gmparts before I put everything back together for sure. I already have new spindle nuts. The 22mm caps are discontinued for the fe3 though? Oh well. I've since de-rusted my old caps and they don't look *too* bad. Might also be a good time for a short shifter kit, just while the shifter cables are disconnected.

 

I drive like a hooligan... part of the "WOT Every Day" club. Autocross, track days, Tail of the Dragon trips, lots and lots of spirited around town driving. I've never had a true clutch problem with any of my cars... it's also been the supporting equipment that fails.

I ran stock clutch on my LSJ until the TOB started to die (around 70k miles, iirc). And that includes about 10k miles with a ~325 whp turbo setup. Moved to a Spec Stg 2 until ~92k miles when the engine blew up. Been running GM's LSJ upgrade since then. 400+ whp turbo setup.

I had an '03 GTI with the 24v VR6. Bought it with 66k miles. A few autocrosses, multiple trips to TOTD, and general hooliganism... made it to 210k miles before the TOB died. Swapped in a OEM replacement; if the OE can make it to 210k miles, there's no real reason not to stick with it.

 

I've seen your build thread - hooliganism is an understatement. It makes me glad though that the stock clutches are really not that bad - I drove Saturns before this car and it was always synchros or shift bushings or one time an entire chunk of 4th gear.

 

Both my Cobalts came to me with blown engines so I can only assume they were driven hard. My silver one had about 120k miles when I pulled it apart and it had a new clutch. My black one had 140k miles on it had a new clutch as well.

Having said that, my Evos clutch didnt quite make it to 70k. Race car problems haha. It all depends on how you drive.

 

Seriously it all depends on usage. My 05 at 105k when I sold it was still holding strong on the stock clutch. I gave her 30k hard miles, but I knew how to drive stick. It’s a performance car, so clutches should be toast around 50-75k depending on the driver. I was the third owner of mine and he hated the car. Drove it 2k miles as a college kid and I traded him and lost on my 02 bmw vert 331ci with 40k miles. I didn’t care as I made bank when I traded that plus 10k.

 

Welp, for good or ill, I've replaced the clutch and buttoned everything back together. I bought a crappy beater car to get around in while I took my sweet time with the complete pain in the rear this job turned out to be. I was on gravel doing everything - I'll be pouring a concrete pad next summer. I was quoted 1500 JUST for the clutch job so I said, "nuts to that, I'm gonna do it my damn self".

New LUK Flywheel, Exedy Stage 1 Clutch kit with throwout bearing/slave, new Clutch Master, Tie Rod Ends, wheel hubs, stabilizer links, sway bar bushings, strut bellows and a refresh on the springs, new caliper boots and hone, rotors, pads, ball joints, TTY Flywheel bolts from ZZP and a new pair of hub nuts. Only things that stayed were the spindle, LCA and struts. All the hardware got treated to some wire wheeling and copper anti-seize (except on the spindle bolts, those needed blue loctite). I even managed to find the proper Dex II fluid for the car - it wasn't Delco, but was a Canadian Tire version of the car-specific stuff (not VI).

Either way, drove it over to the DMV to get registration on it again, and wouldn't you know the Clutch Pedal Position Switch (Clutch B Switch) code came on. I had this code before the clutch burned out, but I replaced the entire switch at that time - pulled the power steering out and everything to get up and at the switch.

Does it need to be adjusted now that I've got a new Clutch Master Cylinder do you think? Or should I just ignore it and remember to get my fat foot completely off the pedal?

Thanks guys!

 

It might just need adjusted, or there might be an issue in the wiring (not as likely). But also, if you aren't actively using the clutch, you should have your foot somewhere else (like the dead pedal). Hovering or resting on the pedal is a bad habit and hard to break (speaking from experience).

Also, Dex VI is the replacement for Dex III... you're perfectly fine switching to the Dex VI.

 

Yeah, I remember breaking myself of that habit the last time the code came up so it makes me wonder if I was just being lazy. I generally don't hover on the pedal, but there are some stop-and-go idiots in my area that make it REALLY hard not to ride the clutch some days. I'll keep an eye on it. Adjustment is simple IIRC, reach on up, twist, move to the appropriate length, twist back. Retract arm and look like you have had an arm wrestle with a bobcat.